Mana condensed into a faceted crystal in front of Dyani’s palm before shooting towards Pikawon’s chest. She didn’t push the absolute maximum amount of mana into the skill, but it wasn’t the minimum amount either.
Pikawon’s eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, and he failed to dodge in time. Nymin had no such issue. Her hand shot out to intercept the projectile, absorbing its mana with practiced ease.
“Manners, Dyani,” Nymin said, an automatic response that felt odd under the circumstances.
Then, in a rush of blue, her mother flew forward, nearly knocking Dyani off her feet as she wrapped her in a fierce hug.
“Never, never, ever, do anything like this ever again. I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”
Dyani was shocked by the scrambled statement and uncharacteristic and mana expensive level of physical contact from Nymin. For a moment, she forgot the city guards, Pikawon’s idiotic attempt to protect her from them, and the monster in the next room. She drank in her mother’s love with the same hunger Nymin absorbed mana. Too soon for her mother’s tastes, Dyani broke the embrace and looked between the pair of them.
“Mind telling me what’s happening? All I know is that some people were looking for him,” she nodded at Pikawon, her tone filled with annoyance, “Then he stabbed, poisoned, and ditched me.”
Nymin raised an eyebrow and looked over at Pikawon, who had the good sense to look ashamed. He raised his hands, palms out.
“It was barely a prick. I just needed to keep her from following while I drew them off.” That satisfied most of Nymin’s ire, but she still gave Dyani a quick look up and down to check for injuries. She touched the patch of dried blood on her daughter's neck. The wound had already sealed itself, thanks to Dyani’s heightened vitality, but was still tender.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Nymin said to herself as much as the others before answering Dyani’s question, “They figured out I was planning to leave the city. As far as I can tell, they were originally looking for you to use as a hostage against me, but now that they’ve seen me and Pikawon down here, they’ll be looking for all of us.”
“What would the city care if you left? They’ve always been awful to you.”
Nymin opened her mouth to argue, but closed it without saying a word. That was a difficult point to refute in the current situation.
“Why do they want me?” Pikawon asked, drawing a glare from Dyani. She had her own false start, but she wrestled down the urge to scold him again for leaving her behind, instead actually considering his question
The city lord wanted Pikawon because of his potential to create a new humanoid race with the bestial features from his talent. And her mother had similar talent-granted features, ones even more unusual than her friend’s.
“I hate everyone.”
“That’s my line,” Pikawon remarked. He had a sheepish, nervous grin that reminded her of a puppy that wanted to play, but was afraid of getting kicked.
She was still angry, and she still hadn’t forgiven him, but she knew she would. It would be stupid to lose a friend over a misguided attempt to protect her.
Dyani let out an explosive sigh and favored him with a tiny smile, before glancing at Nymin.
“What do we do now?”
Nymin winced, as if the question caused physical pain.
“We need to leave the city, but I don’t know how we can without being caught. Unless one of you knows about a place where the sewers dump outside?”
Dyani and Pikawon both shook their heads. While dumping waste outside was common enough for other cities, the fact that the Mountain Oak at the city’s center took care of absorbing and processing it through its many roots meant there was no reason to do so in Root Perch.
“And if we leave, they’ll find us before we can travel two blocks,” Pikawon said, “They’re going to find me soon anyway. It’s only thanks to Nymin that the city lord doesn’t have me already.” He gestured to Dyani. “They can’t track you because of the talisman I gave you, but once we leave this pocket of messed up mana, they’ll be on me like flies on carrion.”
“Speaking of which,” Nymin said, “The mana, not the morbid thing you just said. What’s happening with the mana here, acorn? Do you know?”
“It’s great isn’t it. Keeps tracking magic from working. No need to question a boon from the goddess.” Dyani scuffed a foot on the stone and carefully avoided eye contact.
“Dyani Farlight,” Nymin said, sternly, “What did you do?”
“I haven’t done anything,” Dyani said, keeping the word ‘yet’ from slipping out.
“Then you shouldn’t have any problem telling me what’s going on.” Nymin looked past her daughter, down the sloping corridor. “Or I could just go see for myself.”
“Please don’t do that,” Dyani said in a rush.
Pikawon snorted, drawing a sharp look from Dyani.
“What? It's nice to see you at a loss for once.”
Between the two gazes, one amused and one scrutinizing, Dyani broke.
She told them about the waste collection chamber and the dangers it contained. Pikawon’s humor and her mother’s sternness shifted until both wore expressions of exasperated concern.
“You didn’t stop here to hide from tracking.” Nymin’s hands clenched together, and Dyani couldn’t tell if it was from worry, or if she wanted to strangle something.
“You were planning on fighting the node guardian.” Pikawon sounded more tired than surprised. “What level was it again?”
“Only four. The last False Hydra we fought was level 3, and that was ages ago. I’m sure we can take it.”
“Level isn’t everything,” Nymin said, looking down the corridor where the monster waited, “It’s a node guardian, and those are always stronger. The standard is to consider them two levels higher then they are.” Her tone was contemplative, mind clearly elsewhere.
“I know that.” Dyani had known node guardians were stronger, but she hadn’t realized the difference was so great.
Their strength came from their relationship with the mana nodes they guarded. Stable nodes were bound to locations or resources, increasing their quality and quantity and leading to the formation of cities to take advantage of said resources. Root Perch’s stable node was bound to the Mountain Oak, which provided mana infused wood and various resources from plants and animals that formed symbiotic relationships with the tree.
For whatever reason, untethered nodes didn’t do the same, instead sending out the mana they released to form monsters. One of these monsters could bind themselves to the node in a similar fashion to stable nodes and resources. Once bound, the guardian gained a constant stream of mana, increased attributes, and an instinctive drive to protect the source of their power, hence their title.
“Tell me about the first False Hydra you fought,” Nymin said.
Dyani and Pikawon exchanged a confused look before Dyani hesitantly started explaining their experience. Pikawon shared his own insights, finally admitted to Nymin he had an interface, accepted a connection, and sent her a description of the first monster.
Nymin asked a few follow up questions about the mana node and Dyani sent her the descriptions she had of it and the Evolved False Hydra.
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“I’m not sure how accurate these are. My identify function just evolved into something called archive. It says it extrapolates off existing information.”
“I don’t know about the monster, but everything about the node makes sense. Mana nodes in the early stages are particularly unstable and prone to failure.”
“How do you know about mana nodes?” Dyani asked.
“Acorn,” Nymin said with gentle reproach, “I was married to a slayer for years. I picked up a thing or two.” She looked in the direction of the mana node once again, brow pinching in worried consideration.
After half a minute of tense silence, she came to a decision.
“Dyani, you were right.”
“I was?”
“She was?”
Dyani and Pikawon responded at the same time.
Nymin nodded, the corner of her mouth pulling up in a half smile.
“That mana node is our escape route. But we have to kill that monster first.”
“We do. Sweet!” Dyani said. She’d been willing to face the guardian alone, but doing so with help was much better and much less likely to get her killed.
“I’m surrounded by crazy people,” Pikawon said.
“Do you have a better plan?” Nymin asked.
“I don’t even understand this one. How is killing a giant monster with a hundred heads going to help here? The fight’s just going to attract every guard in the city. I don’t think the wonky mana will hide three people and a monster using all their skills at once.”
“Mana nodes aren’t just endless fountains of mana. They don’t produce mana at all. They’re gateways to somewhere else, somewhere so full of mana that it pours out into ours.”
“You want to go into the mana node?” Pikawon asked, “Where does it go?”
“Different people call it different things. Rotto called it the domains, places of pure magic, related to the different mana affinities.”
“Did dad go there? What was it like?” Dyani asked eagerly.
Nymin shook her head.
“I don’t know anyone who’s actually gone there. There are rumors of higher level people traveling the domains, but they haven’t exactly shared their experiences.”
“So, you want to go to a magical dimension that may or may not exist, where only the highest level people go?” Pikawon asked, eyebrows halfway to the ceiling.
Nymin bobbed her head from side to side as she tried to think of a way to explain it that wouldn’t sound crazy.
“Do we have to kill the guardian? Couldn’t we just sneak past it?” Dyani asked. She was more than willing to fight, especially with backup, but the questions seemed important to ask.
“It’s complicated,” Nymin said, “But if we all want to go, yes, we need to kill it. I know it sounds-”
“Awesome,” Dyani said.
“Insane,” Pikawon said at the same time.
The two looked at each other as if they’d each said something incredibly stupid.
“You really want to do this?” Pikawon said.
“You don’t want to go somewhere made of pure magic, finding the secrets of power that only the strongest in the world know about?”
“Or die trying.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s not a good thing!” Pikwaon said as loud as he dared, “Dying is bad.”
“Your friend is right, Dyani. Dying is bad. We aren’t going to do that.”
“I know. And I’m not planning on dying,” Dyani placated them, “I’m just saying that adventure involves risks. And this plan sounds better than having my best friend and mom caught by the creepy city lord while I’m left twiddling my thumbs.”
“They were looking for you too. You’re the perfect hostage for both of us.” Nymin pointed out.
“Maybe,” Dyani admitted, “But if they caught you both, I doubt they’d waste the time and effort to find me. I’m too sneaky.”
Pikawon snorted.
Nymin opened her mouth, then closed it.
“It’s a good thing they don’t know about what you can do,” Pikawon said, “You’re the most valuable out of all of us.”
That reminded Dyani of the skill she’d nearly completed before she’d been interrupted. She should really complete it before they initiated the fight. She really wished she had time to recreate Crystallize Distilled Mana, but it was complicated enough she doubted she could do so in less than an hour. If she still had it, she could create a custom skill for her mother. Nymin still had a free slot after absorbing Crystallize Pure Mana.
What Dyani did have was her pile of skills she used for reference purposes.
“If we’re going to fight, we need to be fully equipped. You still have an empty skill slot, right mom?”
At Nymin’s nod, Dyani gestured to the pile of skills on the floor.
“That’s all I’ve got on me. Take whichever you want.”
Nymin shook her head in wonder, obviously still getting used to how casual her daughter was with such valuable items. She eventually settled on Mana Bolt. It was the most combat oriented skill that would work for her, considering she didn’t have stamina, which was necessary to use Punch, Haste, or Parry. Dyani stored the rest of her skills in her backpack.
It took some convincing from Dyani to get her to actually absorb the skill, but once she did, Dyani turned to Pikawon.
“I’m full up on skills.”
“I know,” Dyani said, reaching deep into her backpack while focusing on the items she wanted. Two glass bottles appeared in the void. She tossed them each to him in turn.
* General Cleansing Tonic (Common)
* Level: 5
* Condition: Perfect
* Description: An alchemical tonic that increases the body’s ability to break down toxic substances. Has a moderate effect of all level 5 or below toxins, and significantly decreased effect on higher level substances.
* Mana Filter Potion (Common)
* Level: 3
* Condition: Perfect
* Description: Increases the spirit’s ability to convert ambient mana into compatible mana for a short period, increasing the user’s effective mana regeneration rate.
“I stocked up on potions for our trip through the wilds.” Dyani only hoped the Evolved False Hydra’s venom acted as level 4, despite what Nymin had said about treating node guardians as two levels higher. A level 5 cleansing tonic wouldn’t do much against level 6 poison.
“What about you?” Pikawon asked, tucking the potions into his bag.
Dyani retrieved her own potions, which she showed to him before dropping them back into the void.
“I’m all set, and mom can’t drink potions. Besides, she can just drain more mana and she’s immune to poison.”
“Not all poison,” Nymin clarified, “But I doubt this monster has anything that would work on an intangible entity.”
Dyani wanted to ask about that, but now wasn’t the time.
“Now, I just need a few minutes to finish a skill I’ve been working on and we can get started.”
Pikawon and Nymin disagreed with that assessment. They insisted on planning for every possible eventuality, to the point where Dyani was having trouble keeping things straight. She wasn’t opposed to a good plan, but she definitely favored creating a set of flexible tactics she could call out in the moment, instead of trying to predict an enemy’s every possible move.
Pikawon brought Nymin up to speed on the tactics the two inspectors had already come up with and they hashed out where Nymin fit within them.
In the end, they were as prepared as they could be, besides the skill Dyani still needed to create.
***
It took Dyani three more tries before she managed to create a usable skill, but she was more than satisfied with the result. After giving a quick update to Nymin and Pikawon, to help solidify their plans, the three cautiously approached the waste collection chamber.
Their plan was an adaptation of one of Dyani and Pikawon’s most common recent tactics, which they called, red flag. When it was just the two of them using it, it involved Dyani keeping the monster’s attention by tying a few glowstones to her eye-catching and reflective halberd, while Pikawon snuck up behind to deal the lethal blow.
In this situation, Nymin was acting as the primary distracter, since she was the most mobile and least susceptible to damage. They had initially hoped to use Nymin’s mana draining abilities to weaken their foe before focusing on offense, but there were two problems with that plan.
Node guardians, by their very nature, were constantly being fed mana from their respective mana nodes. Draining their mana would be like emptying a river-fed lake. It was possible that Nymin would be able to keep up with or even exceed the rate at which the guardian regained mana, but she only had a chance if she could touch them.
And even though she was largely intangible, sufficiently concentrated mana, like that running through the body of a powerful monster, could still harm her.
The second problem was that hunger affinity mana, which Nymin and the Evolved False Hydra both possessed, was notoriously difficult to drain. The intrinsic nature of hunger mana to pull in other sources of energy counteracted much of the same pull exerted by mana drain skills.
Dyani’s role was similar to her mother’s. She was supposed to keep up a constant barrage of ranged attacks to do what damage she could, though her priority was keeping the monster’s attention. She would use Mana Jump to reposition as needed to avoid incoming attacks.
Pikawon would be their assassin. Dyani had been resistant to the idea at first, but Nymin had made a compelling argument.
“He’s our most powerful damage dealer by far. His claw attack is our best chance to actually get through the hydra’s hide. Once we have a weak point, you can focus your new skill there. Without him striking the first blow, I don’t think you’ll be able to get through.”
They all agreed that if anyone wanted to back out at any time, they could just say the word, and the others would retreat, no matter what state the monster was in.